1. Clarifying Questions —

1. 1. When you say, chat application… is it like iMessage, WhatsApp etc? >> Yes
   2. So just that I understand the ask here is user should be able to book/share the cab with the car owner user using WhatsApp/iMessage without leaving the application >> Correct, that’s the idea.
   3. Any specific chat application you would like me to consider? >> you can pick of your choice.
      I will consider Whatsapp as as its the most used chat app globally.
   4. Any specific geography we are developing for >> US and Canada
   5. Any specific product goal >> revenue, engagement? No specific goal as such.
      Ok, as this is the new product, I would like to consider the goal of acquiring more and more users
   6. Mobile App or Website ?? >> As the chats are mostly done on the mobile, I would like to first build it for the mobile os and then move to the website.
   7. Are there are any other constraints? Time, budget, resources? >> No constraints
2. Users —
   1. Professional User (would like to share the cab while commuting to the work)
   2. Students (would like to share the cab while going to the university/classes)
   3. Regular User (would to share the cab travelling to malls/airports etc.)
3. Use Cases —
   1. User 1 (requester) should be able to input the pickup time, pickup location and drop-off location.
   2. User 2 (user giving share-ride) should be able to see all the requested ride for that location.
   3. User 2 (user giving share-ride) should be able to confirm the ride.
   4. User 1 (requester) should be able to make a payment for the cab service.
   5. User 1 (requester) should be able to see the driver’s realtime location so that he can reach at the pickup location accordingly.
   6. User (requester) should be able to send the live ride to his friends or family as here user is travelling with an unknown user, so it would be good if user can send the live trip to his family/friends for safety.
4. Solutions —
   1. UseCase 1 Solution: I would like to create a new tab in whatapp as “Share Ride”. Once clicked on the share-ride, user will be able to input the pickup location and drop-off location and the pickup time.
   2. UseCase 2 & 3 Solution: For #2 & #3, I would like to take advantage of the existing WhatsApp feature, “live location”. When user 2 (user giving share-ride) has to go from location A to location B, based on his live location he would be able to see all the requested rides near his location. Based on his route, destination and time, he would be able to confirm one of the requested rides accordingly.
   3. UseCase 4 Solution: As soon as the user 2 (user giving share ride), confirms/accepts the ride, notification would be sent to the the user 1 (requester) about the confirmation and the payment/fare details. Again, for the payment feature, I would like to leverage the WhatsApp existing payment feature. WhatsApp already has the payment functionality, so it already has all the payment details of the user. Once the user 1 (requester) receives the payment request, with just one click, he can make a payment to the user 2 (user giving share ride) confirming his ride.
   4. UseCase 5 Solution: Well tracking the is a complicated functionality. I would like to diving this into below 2 features.
      1. 1. As soon as user 2 (user giving share-ride), is approaching the user 1’s (requester) location, user 1 (requester), a notification would be sent to the User 1 .. something like “your share ride is 5 mins away”
         2. This can further be enhanced with the real time map tracking where user 1 would actually be able to see the live location of the share ride. But this requires too much of effort and integration with maps application.
   5. UseCase 6 Solution: Once the ride is confirmed, user 1 (requester) would be able to send the trip details to his friend or family. His friend or family would receive the link on the link in the WhatsApp chat message and they would be able to track the journey realtime. Again this needs maps integration with WhatsApp and needs to be implemented along with above 4) II).

 

5. Prioritization —  

 

No	Cost/Effort	Impact
Use Case 1	High	High
Use Case 2 & 3	High	High
Use Case 4	Medium	High
Use Case 5) I)	Medium	Medium
Use Case 5) II)	High	High
Use Case 6	High	Medium

 

Based on the above, I would like to prioritize the use case 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) I) as that would complete the MVP and we can start rolling out to the end users and then can consider more sophisticated features like live tracking via map as future enhancements.

 

 

6. Metrics —
   1. Acquisition —
      1. No. of users opened the “Share Ride” tab on WhatsApp

 

6. 2. Activation —
      1. No. Of users (cab requester) entered the pickup and drop-off location for the very first time
      2. No. Of users (user giving share-ride) accepted the rides
      3. No. Of payments made after the cab confirmation notification received

 

6. 3. Engagement —
      1. No. Of DAU/WAU/MOU
      2. No. Of shared rides booked/day
      3. Ratio of No. of shared rides requested to the No. Of shared rides accepted by the user (this would help in determining that engagement is from both the different actors requester and cab share driver)

 

6. 4. Retention —
      1. No. Of payment details saved
      2. DAU/WAU/MOW —> growth over WOW, MOM, YOY

I’ll first start with a few clarifying questions.

1. Can I pick any chat application or do you have any particular app in mind? You choose. I’ll pick WhatsApp since it’s widely used and has an active user base of around 2 billion.

2. I just want to bring both of us on the same page in terms of cab-sharing service. A cab-sharing service is one where users can come & book a cab at any time of the day or can pre-book cabs for a future time slot.

3. Are we considering just cabs or do we need to consider other modes of transportation as well like bikes, autos, rentals, etc? If I have to pick one, I’ll start with just cabs & later expand to other modes after achieving product market fit.

4. Since we want to launch it inside Whatsapp itself, I am assuming it won’t be a separate startup and we can leverage Whatsapp’s existing features & draw synergies.

5. What is our goal in introducing cab sharing within WhatsApp? If I have to decide, I’ll tie it back to the overall mission of WhatsApp which is to let people communicate freely. Given most of the conversations or plans are made with friends or family on calls or chats, introducing cab service provides vertical integration and allows the users to book cabs without leaving the platform and share live updates with the concerned people. Also, if we consider the drivers, most of them would already have Whatsapp installed on their mobile devices & won’t need to install another app. They are also familiar with the interface & hence the learning curve of introducing a new cab service will be smaller. Our goal for launching cab-service would be to increase engagement on the platform & eventually revenue and not acquisition as we already have a huge user base. For starters, we’ll keep engagement as the goal & later we will work on increasing revenue with this feature.

6. Are we going to follow a marketplace model or an inventory model? For most practical purposes it should be a marketplace model because WhatsApp has no other business in owning these cars.

7. Are we considering any particular geography in mind or should we cover it from a global angle? Since Whatsapp is a globally used app, all the features should be thought through from a global lens.

8. Are there any constraints we are working with in terms of money, time, or resources? No, you can assume there are no constraints.

9. Even though WhatsApp exists for both desktop & mobile devices, we’ll launch cab sharing service on mobile only as the % of users using a desktop to book a cab is negligible.

10. My last point would be to think about the competitors & how WhatsApp can differentiate itself from them. Cab-service companies like Uber, Ola, Lyft, etc. are the direct competitors. WhatsApp can differentiate itself by being able to provide an ecosystem within the app where plans are being made and venue & timing are being decided. Users can accomplish more without switching apps.

 

Now thinking about the user segment:

1. Professional users: Users who use cabs to reach their offices almost on a daily basis.

2. Recreational users: Users who use cabs to meet with their friends, and family for a get-together. They can travel alone or pick up other people on the way.

3. Travellers: Users who are visiting another country or catching a flight.

I would pick recreational users as the target segment since that’s where WhatsApp can add value. Professional users have a fixed destination where they have to travel every day & it is already being served well by the competitors. For travelers visiting another country, they will have to search for places to visit or have their friends recommend places that require a bigger circle whereas WhatsApp is a bit more personal.

 

Let us talk about the pain points of recreational users:

1. Users have to reach out to friends or family to make plans on call or create WhatsApp groups for the same. The place should be apt for the day, weather, purpose of visit, etc.

2. They mutually decide on a place based on & the time to meet and also if anyone will be accompanied by someone. Users normally want to know how much time each person will take to reach the place from their location and how far they have reached.

3. Users open another app like Uber or Ola to book a ride. They search for the place and book a cab by choosing a payment method (online/offline). Once the ride starts, they share the ride status with their friends or family to provide live tracking so that others are updated about your arrival time.

4. Users may need to share the ride status with their emergency contact to keep them updated if they are late or to the police if they don’t feel safe.

 

Let us now talk about the solutions addressing these pain points and then we will prioritize.

Solution	Impact	Effort
WhatsApp already has live location functionality which can be leveraged to create a group map marking the location of all the group members once the live location is turned on by them. Search functionality can be given which pulls data about the place using Google APIs to pin the place on the map and immediately show the time required by each member to reach. This will help in fast-tracking the decision-making process.	Low	Medium
If all the users book cabs from WhatsApp, it can start live tracking each person to the place giving the information to all the other group members. This reduces multiple follow-up calls & messages with friends regarding their arrival status. This also removes the need to share the ride status as it’s being tracked live.	High	Low
An event can be created with the members who RSVP’ed. Based on the time of the event and the time it will take the users to reach, the car ride can be automatically booked by WhatsApp for the user provided the user agreed to it beforehand. This will reduce the additional effort for the users to keep checking the traffic status and manually book a ride.	High	High

 

I will prioritize solution 2 first since it solves a major use case for the users with low effort and will help differentiate WhatsApp from others.

The feature will be available as one of the options at the bottom of the chat window just like attachment, text box, etc. On clicking on the cab icon, the user gets taken to a separate page that has the map, search functionality, and payment options with one single option to book a cab. As soon as the 1st person in the group leaves their house, a map view appears which starts displaying the live location of the users. This process repeats when others leave & they get added to the same map.

 

Risks:

1. Since we are providing the live location of the user, we have to make sure that it doesn’t get accessed by malicious or unintended users. This can be mitigated to some extent by disabling the map view once everyone reaches the location.

2. Since the feature will only be available on phones, we have to make sure that desktop chat history does not display live tracking since it could be accessed by anyone in the user’s absence.

3. Security systems need to be encrypted to prevent breaches of user privacy.

 

Finally, I would like to touch upon the metrics to measure the success of the product. Since our overall goal, for now, is to increase engagement, we need to focus on those metrics.

1. North Star metric: DAU, MAU

2. Secondary metrics: Time spent on the app, No. of messages exchanged in 7D, 30D period, No. of reactions. The feature may cause a slight reduction in the messages exchanged as the follow-up messages get reduced but if the overall time spent on the app increases, we can consider that a success.

3. Feature-specific metrics: This includes funnel metrics. No. of users searching for a place, No. of users attempting to book a cab, No. of rides booked, and Impressions on the map view.

I have covered the consumer experience side. Since it is going to be a marketplace, do you want me to cover the driver’s side as well?

No, we can close here for now.